The Boy on the Shore
by Beloved-Stranger
Summary: Jesse Turner is the Antichrist. He can reshape reality with a thought and the Devil would love to get hold of him. At eight years old he's on the run...but with Anna Milton on his side, he won't be doing it alone. prequel to 'Forever Meets the Dying Girl'
1. Lockdown

**Disclaimer: **Don't own Supernatural…sadly.

**Author's Note: **This is a little prequel set in the _Forever Meets the Dying Girl_ 'verse, but can be read as a stand alone.

* * *

**Lockdown; May 2009**

She felt it, the moment the last seal broke and _he_ walked free.

All of them would have felt it, every pair of wings in every Choir, but it had been so long since they'd felt anything of that magnitude that Anna doubted they would know what it meant.

She doubted they knew they had been betrayed.

"It's over, Anafiel," Zachariah had said, standing over her with his hands in his vessel's pockets. "It's the end as we know it." He'd smiled. "God is dead and gone and now…now we get some peace. The peace we've always deserved."

"And how many innocents have to die for your peace, Zachariah?" she gasped, still aching from the blows they had landed without physically touching her. Never physically. That was crass, so human, so messy.

_Why bruise your knuckles when you can throw me across a room with a thought?_ she'd mused dryly.

"How many, huh?"

He'd flipped one hand dismissively. "A few billion, maybe." Then those cold, bird-bright eyes had focused on her again, _really_ focused. "You know it's interesting; Dean Winchester asked the same thing. Hmm. You're still one of them. You got your Grace back, and yet…and yet you still think like a mud-monkey. You still think they _matter_…"

He'd left then, probably to see if the Winchesters would survive the aftermath of the Light Bringer's rising. Or to get front row seats to the oncoming slaughter…

Anna had dragged herself upright, body already whole but with her Grace aching and her soul bruised.

Because it was true…she still thought like a human most of the time, though with the scope of an angel. Her soul, her _human_ soul was still intact, bound irrevocably with her Grace, the two of them beating closely, comfortably, like a metaphysical heartbeat.

Angel, human, one and the same.

Hybridized. Halfling…

She stood now, arms tight around her middle, wondering what would happen to her bound up, beating soul if they decided to execute her. She wondered how they'd do it…

She was still wondering when then was a sound like thunder when it touches the earth and a rent appeared in the smooth white wall of the lockdown.

Alarmed, she backed away, green eyes wide. "What the…?"

The rent widened, the two edges of wall pealing backwards until there was just enough room for a person – albeit a small one – to fit through. Beyond the white marble, she could see the empty dark of space-time.

For a few moments, the shifting stopped, the rift quiescent…and then the wind began.

It whistled in from the blackness, biting cold and smelling of animal fur and pine needles. Against the bright white of the walls she almost didn't see it, but then it began gathering in small piles in the corners of the lockdown; snow. Looking closely she could make out small flurries of flakes caught in the wind, dancing in tiny whirling dervishes that flung her hair about and left trails of goosebumps on her human arms.

Anna's breath caught in her throat.

There was only one angel she knew whose arrival was precluded with wind and snow.

When the figure stepped through the rent in the wall and laid copper eyes on her, Anna wasn't surprised.

"Azrael," she breathed.

The Arc smiled. "Hello, Anna."

"What…what're you doing here?" Anna whispered. "Have you…will you be the one to execute me?"

Considering who Azrael was…what she represented…it wasn't an illogical assumption.

But the Arc raised inquiring eyebrows. "Execute you? No. No, Anna…"

She stepped away from the rift, slowly approaching the younger angel. When they were no more than a foot apart, Azrael lifted one hand and gently trailed the backs of her fingers down Anna's face. Anna closed her eyes. Sighed out shakily.

"No, little sister, I have work for you. A job only you can do."

Anna opened her eyes, perplexed.

"What kind of work?"

Azrael smiled again.

* * *

**AN:** For those curious about Azrael, check out the Wikipedia entry or go to Angels365 dot com.


	2. Surfer's Paradise

**Surfer's Paradise, Queensland, Australia; July, 2009**

It was blowing a westerly today, and from her seat in the café Anna could see the cool wind whipping across the sand, pulling it into small dervishes that spun briefly along the beach.

But the sun was still out, and it was still too warm for a jacket with the latte to keep her warm. This was a north-eastern Australian winter, and the thought of snow was half a world away.

Sighing, she set her coffee down, slumping back on her seat…

Only to sit bolt upright again a moment later.

What in the hell…?

It was just a tingle, a feather-light touch, but even that was lightning-bright and electric with pain.

_Where are you?_

The reply was panicked and incoherent. A jumble of images that made her head ache as she tried to puzzle out the unfamiliar orientation. When she finally got it, she was on her feet in an instant.

Set low, they were set low and looking up. The perspective of a child.

_I'm coming._

Fear touched her. Illogical fear, though she didn't understand why.

She strode faster, lining up landmarks and scents. It was a market, set up along the Esplanade. Anna smelt fresh fruit…and the musk of human terror. Worse, it didn't quite mask the sulfur.

There was a demon nearby.

Turning a corner around a block of stalls, she came to an abrupt halt.

A man in a police uniform was standing over a small boy, maybe no more that eleven years old. The boy had a green mango in one hand while the officer had the opposite wrist in a white-knuckle grip. There was a snarl on the man's face, the expression made even uglier by the fact that it was suppose to be a smile.

The sulfur scent got stronger and set her senses afire.

The answering rage rose up, and Anna stepped silently towards them.

"Officer," she called, full of false brightness for the benefit of the rest of the mortal foot-traffic. "Oh, thank God, you found him." She took the boy's arm from the creature's grip and gathered him close to her. "Why'd you run off, sweetie?"

Blue eyes stared back at her, wide and half-wild.

_I'm here to help_, she told him.

An answering rush of feeling. _I'm scared, but I shouldn't be._

_Why?_

_I could make him go away. But he'll still know where I am…_

_Not for long._

The conversation to less than a second.

When Anna looked up the officer's eyes were the colour of spilt pitch.

"You don't know what you're messing with, bitch," he snapped. "The munchkin in your arms isn't anything you can save." The smile came back, oily and inhuman. "Why not just let him go? Just leave and let me take him where he needs to be…I know someone who wants to have a real long chat with him…"

The boy's arms went around her then, and Anna tightened her grip on him.

"I know exactly what I'm messing with," she murmured coldly. "But do you?"

She turned her right arm, letting him glimpse the sigil on her pulse point.

The air went cold and smelt of fur and pine. For a second, the beach appeared covered in snow instead of pale sand. Their breath ghosted white from their mouths, and Anna smiled like a winter sun.

"Azrael is in the world," she whispered. "Azrael lies in wait."

The demon stared at her with honest terror. "No," he rasped.

"Yes," Anna laughed, "oh yes."

She looked down at the boy in her arms who was gazed at her, face full of puzzlement.

"Take my hand and think of stars," she told him.

He hesitated for only a second. Then his small warm palm was against hers. The link forged…

Rage spilled back onto the demon's stolen face as he realized what she meant to do. He reached for them, and Anna felt the air shift in front of her face with his movements a bare half-second before she closed her eyes and flickered out of existence. His roar of denial followed them into the ether.

There was the sound of shifting feathers, the beat of ethereal wings, and they reached for a night sky on the other side of the Indian Ocean.

---


	3. Darsa

**Author's Note:** Really? No reviews at all? Gosh.

* * *

**Darsa, the Socotra Archipelago**

In the eerie star-scattered dark that covers oceans two heads emerged from the black water.

Anna gasped at the cold before she remembered it couldn't harm her, that her body was beyond that now.

It could harm her companion though.

"Hey," she said, reaching for him. He caught her arm with his small hands and clung like a limpet to her shoulder, instinctively pushing down to keep his own head above water. Anna beat her legs effortlessly and set herself to drift for the nearest piece of land. It wasn't far, and within minutes her feet made contact with sand.

Still clinging to each other, they staggered up the pale stone beach and collapsed where the stones stopped and equally pale earth started.

"I'm sorry," the boy said, shivering and holding his own arms. "You said to think of stars and I could smell fish from the other stall…so I thought of starfish…"

Anna smiled, laughed a little and drew him into her side. "Its okay, it's okay. You did well. We got away didn't we?"

"Yeah…"

They were quiet for a minute. Anna watched as the water ran from their limbs and smoked from their skin. She could feel herself getting warmer. They were drying out.

"Are you doing that?" she asked quietly.

When he answered, his voice was very small. "Yeah. Yeah, it's just…I don't like being wet. Or cold. And I thought…"

"It's okay," she told him. "I don't like it either, but it won't hurt me, or make me sick. You though…you can still catch pneumonia."

He nodded. Then he fidgeted. Anna watched him turn the buttons of his jacket between small hands. Patiently, she waited.

"You…you can't get sick 'cause you're…" He darted a nervous look at her.

"I'm a what?" she murmured.

He took a hitching breath. "An angel."

She could feel his fear leaking back. "Yeah, I am an angel." She shrugged. "Well, sorta."

He blinked at her. "Sorta?"

She gave him a lopsided smile. "Yeah, sorta."

It got her a little-boy scowl. "How?"

Anna regarded the stars arcing slowly overhead.

"Well, first I was an angel – a full one – and then I became a human…and now I'm an angel again…sorta." She looked down at him. "I'm an angel, but parts of me are still human. I'm caught in between."

Sadness filled the small face. He really was a beautiful child…and Anna realized she didn't even know his name, or he hers.

"Like me," he said quietly.

"Like you?"

A nod. "I'm half human and half…half demon."

Cambion. Antichrist. Oh, sweetheart…

"We're both caught in between," she murmured. "Both at the half-way mark." She gently touched his hair, drew his gaze back to her. "What's your name?"

"Jesse," he said. "Jesse Turner."

"Well, Jesse Turner, I'm Anna Milton, and if you like I'll be your friend, seeing as how we're both in the same boat."

He stared at her for a moment, then turned away and put his chin on his folded arms.

"Yeah, right."

"Hey." She gave him a small prod. "What's that all about?"

"You don't really want to be my friend."

"And why not? Jesse, why would you think that?"

He turned back to her, exasperated and sad. "Because I'm half evil!"

"Jesse!"

"I am!"

"You are not!" She pulled his struggling body against her and hugged him. He wriggled sulkily, but after a while she felt the cool smudging of tears against her neck. She ran a hand over his hair, saying softly, "It's not what we _are_ that matters, it's what we _do_."

On the horizon the sky was growing lighter as daylight caught up with them. Overhead, the stars were beginning to fade. Behind them in the sparse scrub, birds were beginning to stir. As brilliant colour stirred on the edge of the ocean the air began to heat up. Anna and Jesse watched the sunrise.

"What is it you want to do, Jesse Turner?" she whispered.

He lifted his head from her shoulder, turned those ancient blue-grey eyes up to look at her.

"I want to see the world," he told her. "But…I don't want to go by myself."

She smiled and got up, helping him to his feet and keeping hold of his hand.

"Where do you want to go first?"

---

**AN2:** Officially requesting feedback as of...now. If it sucks, guys, you need to _tell me_.


	4. Kyoto, the Amazon, Norway

**AN:** This lack of feedback is disconcerting...does nobody _like_ Jesse?

* * *

_They streaked across the world like comets, leaving trails of footprints that go nowhere._

**Kyoto, Japan; July, 2009**

Under the shelter of roadside stall, they sat shoulder to shoulder as Anna taught Jesse how to use chopsticks, their coattails catching in the breeze that carried the torrential rain. Neon blazing in shop windows reflected in the falling water, on the wet pavement at their feet.

Jesse waggled his chopsticks back and forward, practicing his pincer movement and eyeing up the miniature feast presented to them. "What's the green stuff?"

Anna smiled. "It's called wasabi. You only eat a little of it at a time."

"Why?"

"It's very strong…" She struggled to find a word to encompass the taste. "Its…electrifying."

Jesse's eyes sparked, and needing no further encouragement he smeared a load of wasabi over a sushi roll and popped the whole thing in his mouth. She saw the moment he tasted it. His eyes widened comically and he let out a yell of surprise around his mouthful.

The stallholders, who had been watching covertly, burst out laughing and handed over bottled ice tea with their shoulders still shaking. Jesse gulped it down then sat breathing hard for a few seconds.

"Are you alright?" Anna said, caught between concern and laughter.

Jesse blinked at her, and then smiled.

"That was awesome!"

---

**Brazil, the Amazonian Basin; July, 2009**

They crouched close together, two pairs of bright eyes peering out from the thick green foliage. The air smelt wet, moisture clinging to the huge wavering leaves of the ground shrubbery and pattering against the canopy overhead. In the damp predawn, their preternatural eyes could make out things that ordinary people could not.

A great cat moved with liquid grace down a narrow, near invisible trail through the trees. She paused as a light draft carried their scent to her. She put her ears back and let a warning growl trickle through her teeth.

Jesse looked at Anna. Anna looked at Jesse.

Both of them grinned.

Jesse crawled slowly through the bush where they crouched and crept up to the jaguar. She watched him approach, lambent gold eyes wide with apparent surprise and threat.

Jesse blinked, coughed once, then let out a soft mewl, exactly like that of a two month old jaguar cub.

The female jaguar stared at him for a second, get let out a low cough in her throat, a mother's call.

Jesse let out a bright laugh and reached out to her.

Anyone else would have had their hand taken off at the wrist.

The jaguar bussed her pretty under his hand and along his arm, rubbing a friendly feline hello against his shoulder and jaw. Anna stood, smiling and watched the two until the jaguar trotted over and invited her to play too.

As she scratched under the furiously purring jag's creamy jaw, Anna gave Jesse a wry smile and said, "I've always been a cat person, y'know?"

---

**Northern Norway, above the Arctic Circle; August, 2009**

Two figures stood upon a shoreline of rock and snow, listening to minute lapping of a half frozen lake and the whispers of the wind as it touched the snow banks behind them. Their breath fogged in front of their faces; they smiled and puffed like dragons, blowing steam and twirling it into whimsical shapes with their gloved hands.

Overhead, in the great breathless dark, the overcast sky began to clear. The stars showed like a welter of powder-find sparks, their blunt light reflected by the winking surface of the lake.

Anna drew Jesse close with one arm. Tucked against her side, her chin to his shoulder, she stretched out her other arm and pointed to the horizon.

"Look," she whispered, and Jesse looked.

Over the freezing water, the crescent moon began to rise, a tiny perfect canoe made of glowing silver.

They cuddled together, giggling like fools because they knew this was only the prelude to the main show.

And sure enough…

Above them veils of green fell from the open, spangled darkness like magic; curtains shielding the windows of heaven billowing in a great cosmic wind. Their edges undulated like serpents; turning and curling back on themselves. Silk ribbons of pink and gold joined the dance, weaving their way through the veils, making rainbows as they spilt as so much effervescent coloured paint.

Jesse gasped, young eyes wide as he clung to Anna's arms where they rested about his warmly bundled shoulders.

"Its amazing, Anna," he breathed. "It's so much cooler than on TV."

Anna chuckled softly. "Hey, you know, around here they say its bad luck to wave or whistle at the Lights. There are stories of them taking away people who do…" She turned her face to him, pressed a small kiss to his cheek. "What do you think?"

"It's just a story," he said, though he sounded a little uncertain.

"Lots of people think angels and demons are just stories," Anna countered.

"Well…maybe they didn't get taken away," he said thoughtfully. "Maybe they just found a new way to go, to a new place." He turned to look at Anna, their noses almost touching. "Like in the Narnia books; maybe whistling or waving opened a gate to another world!"

She smiled and he smiled back.

"Maybe," she said.

They turned back to the Lights, and as Anna waved, Jesse whistled.

* * *

**AN2:** (Sad puppy face) Please review...I'll be your friend.


	5. Mumbai, Okavango River, Elk Creek

_Like comets with burning tails…like lights across the skies…like fireflies crossing dark water…_

---

**Mumbai, India; August 2009**

The beggar boy was blind, singing sweetly for a supper that would never be given.

Jesse pressed money into his seeking hands and whispered in flawless _Bambaiya_, "What do you wish for most?"

The younger boy startled, blinking rheumy eyes. The acid scars caught the light as he shifted uncertainly.

"To go home," he whispered. "But…my parents are dead…"

"What else, then?" Jesse said.

"I…"

"Tell me."

"Why do you want to know?" the boy snapped suddenly. "Why do you keep asking? You don't care! You have money to give away; you don't care what I would wish for!"

Jesse's hand wrapped around the beggar boy's, closing his fingers tighter over the wad of cash.

"Just tell me," he said softly, his voice sending a feeling – fear, excitement, it was difficult to tell – skittering up the other boy's spine.

His breath hitched – what are you – and he whispered unsteadily, "To see again. To not be a slave. To get away…"

Jesse's laugh was bright and soft. Clean sounding.

"It's your lucky day."

The beggar boy coughed, his eyes watering. They watered so hard his face was wet with tears. His eyes felt thick with water and salt and phlegm. He blinked hard, wiping at them with the back of his hand, the film of fluid coming away and evaporating coolly on his skin…

Light.

Shapes, resolving.

He started to cry when he recognized his own hands, one still clenched around enough money to feed him for a year.

Jesse was gone, smiling, and already halfway across the globe.

---

**The Kalahari, near the Okavango River, Botswana, Africa; September 2009**

Anna stood, sweet-faced and lissome amongst the swaying grass and watching the panicking elephant approach.

It roared as the poachers drove it on, angling their jeep to try and get a clear shot at its head.

Jesse watched with a frown on his small face. Anna watched his hands clench into fists.

"Steady," she murmured.

Jesse nodded, eyes fixed on the elephant.

The poachers swung the jeep round, pushing it hard, and one swung up his rifle. Found the perfect shot. Took aim. Squeezed the trigger…

The gun fell apart in his hands.

Jesse smiled as the shouting started.

In the next five minutes, the jeep stalled, the engine fell out of the bottom of the chassis, both axels snapped, every firearm jammed irreparablely and the local authorities received an anonymous tip from an untraceable number.

Not two kilometers from the enraged and helpless poachers, Anna and Jesse stood under a tree with the elephant, chatting amiably until a chopper full of armed park rangers descended.

Jesse waved. Anna smiled a very unnerving smile.

They both disappeared into thin air.

One of the poachers wet himself.

---

**Elk Creek, Nebraska, USA**

She knew when someone was watching her.

She snatched the salt from the bench and whipped around, only to come face to face with…

"Jesse," she breathed.

He looked just as startled as she felt; lips parted, face pale enough to show his freckles… younger, less jaded versions of her own deep blue eyes gazing back at her, wide with surprise.

She realized he was breathing shallowly, small chest rising and falling like a frightened bird's. She lowered the salt slowly, blindly setting it back on the bench behind her. He still looked…so uncertain.

"You're," she whispered, voice hitching, "you're okay?"

He nodded, face a little puzzled.

"You're not hurt?"

He shook his head, forehead scrunched in a frown now.

"You made the demon go away," she said, then wondered why she had.

"He was hurting you," Jesse replied, as though she had asked him why. As though it was the obvious thing to do.

She took the time to look at him, really look at him. Physically, the only genes in there were hers, and she could see them clearly. He looked just like her dad had when he was that age; she could have put pictures of them side-by-side and people might have thought them the same child…

The feeling stole over her quickly, gently. It was like seeing herself and her family in him really, truly made him hers.

A demon might have put him there, but he was her baby.

Her silence seemed to scare him a little, because he whispered, "mom?"

"Oh, sweetheart…"

She reached out and touched his face. When he didn't flinch away, she knelt down and carefully drew him into a hug. After a few seconds, she felt his tears making a wet patch on her shoulder.

"I'm being brave," he whispered. "I'm being really brave and I'm helping people. I saved an elephant last week. Me and Anna named him George."

"That's wonderful, baby, I'm so proud of you…"

He clung to her. "I'm going to make it better," he told her, trying to make up for things that weren't his fault. "I'm going to help."

Somewhere further into the house, a woman's voice said gently, "We have to go, Jesse; it's not safe to stay too long."

His arms tightened around her shoulders. He breathed, "I'm going to make it better, Mom, I promise."

There was the sound of beating wings, and she was holding empty air.


	6. Then and Now

**THEN…**

"Everything Jesse believes comes true…he probably doesn't even know he's doing it…"

A small, vigilant figure in a window. Dean waved, and then turned away.

"How is he doing it…?"

---

A 'No Trespassers' sign on a ragged gate. A woman with frightened eyes.

"The demon used my body to give birth to a child."

"Who was the father?"

She looked so worn, so pulled apart.

"I was a virgin."

A beat. The realization.

"Have you seen my son? Is he human?"

"His name's Jesse…"

---

"This child is half demon and half human, but far more powerful than either…you know him as the Antichrist. …one of the Devil's greatest weapons in the war against Heaven."

---

That small, earnest face…

"She said I was half demon. Is that true?"

"Yes, but you're half human too. You've got choices, Jesse. But if you make the wrong ones, it'll haunt you for the rest of your life."

He could hear the tears in the answering cry: "why are you telling me this!"

"Because I have to believe someone can make the right choice…"

---

"Azrael," she breathed.

The Arc smiled. "Hello, Anna."

"What…what're you doing here?" Anna whispered. "Have you…will you be the one to execute me?"

But the Arc raised inquiring eyebrows. "Execute you? No. No, Anna… No, little sister, I have work for you. A job only you can do."

"What kind of work?"

Azrael smiled again.

---

"Azrael is in the world," she whispered. "Azrael lies in wait."

The demon stared at her with honest terror. "No," he rasped.

"Yes," Anna laughed, "oh yes."

She looked down at the boy in her arms who was gazing at her, face full of puzzlement.

"Take my hand and think of stars," she told him.

He hesitated for only a second. Then his small warm palm was against hers. The link forged…

---

"Like me," he said quietly.

"Like you?"

A nod. "I'm half human and half…half demon."

Cambion. Antichrist. Oh, sweetheart…

"We're both caught in between," she murmured. "Both at the half-way mark." She gently touched his hair, drew his gaze back to her. "What's your name?"

"Jesse," he said. "Jesse Turner."

"Well, Jesse Turner, I'm Anna Milton, and if you like I'll be your friend, seeing as how we're both in the same boat."

---

"What is it you want to do, Jesse Turner?" she whispered.

He lifted his head from her shoulder, turned those ancient blue-grey eyes up to look at her.

"I want to see the world," he told her. "But…I don't want to go by myself."

---

Jesse let out a bright laugh and reached out to her.

Anyone else would have had their hand taken off at the wrist.

The jaguar bussed her pretty under his hand and along his arm, rubbing a friendly feline hello against his shoulder and jaw.

---

"Just tell me," he said softly, his voice sending a feeling – fear, excitement, it was difficult to tell – skittering up the other boy's spine.

His breath hitched – what are you – and he whispered unsteadily, "To see again. To not be a slave. To get away…"

Jesse's laugh was bright and soft. Clean sounding.

"It's your lucky day."

---

He clung to her. "I'm going to make it better," he told her, trying to make up for things that weren't his fault. "I'm going to help."

Somewhere further into the house, a woman's voice said gently, "We have to go, Jesse; it's not safe to stay too long."

His arms tightened around her shoulders. He breathed, "I'm going to make it better, Mom, I promise."

There was the sound of beating wings, and she was holding empty air.

---

**NOW…**

"What do you want to do, Jesse Turner?"

"I want to help save the world."

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

---

**AN:** …in the sequel. Keep a look out for _The Brave Don't Run_. In the meantime, let me know what you think…


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